Road links and highway-based services around Upton

The road network

THE BIRMINGHAM, LIVERPOOL TOLL MOTORWAYThis proposal was for a motorway style road with restricted access points and no speed limits, linking Birmingham with the Mersey Tunnel at Birkenhead. It was to be financed by the private sector and paid for by charging tolls for its use. Proposed in the late 1920s it would have followed an almost straight line from Mickle Trafford through Picton Gorse on its way to the Wirral.

Road-based Public Services

STAGE COACHES
It appears that in 1762 there were three stagecoach services per week, on alternate days, between Chester and Woodside where a ferry connection could be made to Liverpool. It is likely that these services used the Liverpool Road route, through Bache. On the other days the coach ran from Chester to Parkgate and Neston
By 1837 it was claimed that there 22 coaches per day between Chester and Birkenhead. They carried an estimated 2715 passengers per week. In addition a further 799 passengers made the journey in other “cars”. This made a total of 182, 728 passengers per year. It was this market that the railway hoped to serve.
[The railway promoters made this claim and as it equates to 18 people per coach it might be exaggerated, alternatively it could include part journeys and or return journeys]

BUS SERVICES
In 1911 Crossville Motor Company started a Chester to Ellesmere Port motorbus service. It is not clear which if any part of Upton was included in its route. The frequency of this service was increased in 1919. In 1913 the company started a Chester to New Ferry bus service, which presumably passed through Bache. Frequencies on this service were also increased in 1919.